The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. – Oscar Wilde

WHO IS AN ANCESTOR
IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION?

It is not possible to speak of traditional religion without touching on the subject of the ancestors. Because they are nowhere and yet everywhere, it is difficult to speak of them comprehensively.

However, an ancestor is a person:

- who died a good death after having faithfully practised and transmitted to his descendants the laws left to him by his ancestors.

- who contributed to the continuation of the line by leaving many descendants.

- who was a peacemaker, a link, that fostered communion between the living and the dead, through sacrifices and prayers.

- A person who is the first-born is a candidate ‘par excellence’ to become an ancestor because he is able to maintain the chain of the generation in a long genealogy. The right of the first born is thus an inalienable right.

Source

« CONVERSION » IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS
By Christopher I. Ejizu

IntroductionThe concept of conversion is as relevant to African indigenous religions as it is to many other religions of humankind. This may sound something of a surprise to some people. After all, the indigenous religions of Africa do not fall within the category of religions generally referred to as universal or missionary religions. They are rather, classed within the family of traditional or folk religions of the world.(1) And this for many people, is another way of saying that African traditional religions admit of little or no change. They thrive in stable and homogenous ethnic societies. They have no founders, reformers, or prophets, and are handed on much in the same form from one generation to the next. In the words of Mbiti, African traditional religions “have no missionaries to propagate them”. As folk religions, they are said to be community-based. “People simply assimilate whatever religious ideas and practices are held or observed by their families and communities”(2). This viewpoint assumed that African traditional religions were more or less fossil reality. Against that backdrop, the discussion of the subject of religious conversion made sense for the protagonists only within the context of the encounter of the indigenous religions with the missionary religions that are available now in the Continent, mainly Christianity and Islam (3).

While this later contemporary stage in the religious history of Africa is important and of relevance to us in this paper, our discussion of the theme of conversion in African religions proposes to focus on the type of change brought about by dynamic impulses in the differing religious experience of indigenous African groups prior to the encounter, as well as on the phenomenal movement of former adherents as converts to the missionary faiths. This later development clearly amounts to a religious revolution. Both strands of religious change are signalled by and implied in the topic of conversion in African religions. We shall therefore, be handling the two dimensions in this paper. But first, the key concepts ought to be clarified and the scope delimited.

Clarification of Terms

The first is conversion. As a religious concept, it refers to change in the religious life and behaviour of people. It generally involves a positive interior change in one’s religious conviction, moral and spiritual fervour, from a state of unbelief, weak or lukewarm faith, to a holy and ardent religious life (4). Conversion therefore, usually implies a change from one religious state (a terminus a quo) to another religious state (a terminus ad quem). The change could be a permanent one, or it could last for only a period of time. Conversion could take place within the same religious system to which an individual or group already belongs or professes, or it could involve a change away from a religion to which one was previously affiliated to another one all together.

In studying religious change or conversion scholars are usually interested in accounting for the causality, as well as the course and consequence of change(5). They are keen to explain the impulses that motivate conversion as well as the process, and also the resultant effect of the experience in the life of individual adherents and groups. Furthermore, Professor Humphrey Fisher identified a three-phase stage of “adhesion”, “mixing”, and then “full conversion” in the process of conversion from a non-prophetic to a prophetic religion (6). In his study of conversion of Africans from traditional religion to Islam and Christianity, he had noted that people could pass through the stage of “adhesion’ during which they stood “with one foot on either side of the fence adopting their new worship as useful supplements” to the old. There could be a lapse from the orthodoxy and religious ardour of the first converts to a mixing stage, and people could later regain their fervency after a reform movement (7).

It is pertinent also to point out that by African traditional religions in this paper, we refer specifically to indigenous religious forms and systems which the different peoples of sub-Saharan Africa cultivated as part of their total experience of life within their particular ecological environment, society and history. The indigenous religions pre-date any other forms and articulations of the sacred that have been brought into the Continent from outside(8). The religious traditions differ one from another largely on account of differences in language, ecosystem and overall historical circumstances of the groups. But they possess a lot of similar essential characteristics. The vision of reality as a whole which they engender is very similar indeed. They possess an essential holistic vision of reality. Traditional Africans perceive life as an integral whole with the sacred flowing into all facets, underpinning and investing every worthwhile event with meaning and significance. There is no dichotomy between the visible and super-sensible world. Spiritual beings and cosmic forces manifest their presence and power through visible events and experience of life. African traditional religions are equally oral in nature. They are codified not in any sacred writings but in the living experience of people and various oral forms of communication.

I am aware that a number of scholars have argued in support of the term African traditional religions as applicable also to Christianity and Islam because of the long period of time the two religions have existed as well as the kind of following they have in the Continent (9). The issue is still a debatable subject. In any case, in this paper the term indigenous religions designates as well as distinguishes the original religious faith of Africa from the missionary religions that have arrived the Continent from other parts of the world.

Conversion Within The Indigenous Religions

Contrary to the general impression created in many existing works, especially writings with anthropological bias (10), a number of recent studies have drawn attention to the inherent dynamism of African indigenous religions (11). They have also highlighted internal impulses and factors that account for significant positive alteration in religious beliefs and conviction of individual adherents and groups, as well as the interchange of religious ideas and cultural forms among people in traditional African societies prior to the advent and interaction with other races and religious cultures. The factors include the people’s acute sense of the sacred, initiation rites, special life-needs like health, sickness and off-spring, disaster, epidemic, long distance travel and trade, migration and warfare. Even m the contemporary background and context of plurality of religious beliefs and practices in the Continent brought about by the co-existence with missionary faiths, the traditional religions have continued to exhibit tremendous resilience and ability to adapt to the changing circumstances.

Evidence abounds of various forms of experience of genuine conversion by individuals and groups both in the indigenous background of homogenous religious beliefs and practices among the different African groups, as well as during the relatively recent period of intense interaction of African indigenous faiths with missionary religions. The oral corpus of the different groups yields a lot of relevant materials. There are striking stories of people changing from lukewarm religious state to fervent religious adherence and strict ethical and moral life. There are equally clear examples of people switching from one traditional religious convictions and cult to another.

The mythical story of the origin and evolution of the cult of Ezemewi and Edo, two arch-divinities of Nnewi people, a typical Igbo language group in Nigeria, makes a good illustration. Ezemewi, otherwise known as Ugi1i Nwa Onye Olu, was reportedly a mythical being, the son of Eze Agana m far-away Ndoni, a coastal town m the lower Niger River basin. Long ago, he appeared as a hungry-looking and unshaven young man at Nnewi. He expressed the desire for food to a number of people who had spotted. Ezi-Abubo, the primeval ancestor of the village group with the same name was able to provide him nourishment promptly, while another man, Akwa, in an attempt to prepare a delicious meal for Ezemewi arrived late with food. Ezemewi was pleased with the hospitality accorded him and finally settled at Nnewi. As a reward for the attention shown to him by Ezi-Abubo, he bestowed several gifts, including off-spring and wealth to him and his descendants. More importantly, he gave them the right to visit him and attend to him daily, while the others who were not prompt in meeting his acute need for food, including Akwa, he gave fewer blessings. They could only visit him occasionally. On account of the many blessings that people received from attending to his residence at the present site of the shrine of Ezemewi in Abubo village-group, the power influence of Ezemewi spread rapidly through the Nnewi and beyond.

Ezemewi married his first wife a mythical being, known as Ogwugwu Eze Kwuabo. Ogwugwu was very powerful as a young lady with numerous admirers and attendants. She had only two issues, Uzukpe and Mgbodo. Ezemewi was dissatisfied. He sued for another very pretty and influential lady. With his powerful influence he was able to win over Edo who had been living with Omaliko. Edo gave birth to a very pretty daughter, a mythical being known as Asala. With that, her power and influence became widespread. From time to time she left Ezemewi to consort and enjoy the affection of some powerful male deities in neighbouring communities. On one occasion she returned from such sorties only to discover that her home had been overgrown by grass. Obaisedo, the ancestor of the kindred with the same name, gained the confidence of Edo who allowed him to clean her compound and thereafter, earned the invitation to visit pay her nocturnal visits for food and other pleasantries. From initial nocturnal visits to eat food in the home of Edo by Obaisiedo, members of his lineage gained the unique privilege to minister as priests at the shrine of Edo (12).

Edo (female) and Ezemewi (male) have since been the two arch-divinities of Nnewi. Significantly, their cults rose to prominence by successfully displacing pre-existing cults of other deities such as Ulasi and Uzukpe. Ezi-Abubo and Obaisiedo village groups though they are not the most senior clans in the town have been specially dedicated to the worship of Ezemewi and Edo respectively. To this date, they alone of all the numerous clans that comprise Nnewi provide candidates for initiation to the priesthood of the two deities. And any male chosen by the deities to serve as priest from the groups would have to undergo a prolonged ceremony of ritual initiation before assuming office at the respective shrines. The conversion of the candidate to serve as Isiedo, the traditional priest of Edo from Obaisiedo village group, was always a dramatic religious experience. He would have to physically depart his original family home in the village with a few belongings, travel slowly through sacred groves and forests for several nights before emerging at the shrine of Edo. He would be dressed totally in white and migrate to the Edo shrine with only one wife. His permanent abode thenceforth, would be at the sacred grove of Edo. His choice by Edo require total commitment to the deity. As such, he had to undergo a physical and ritual disconnection with his kin-group in order to achieve a full change of his religious, spiritual ethical and social relationships and pattern of life.

The desire for initiation into the prestigious Ozo traditional Igbo title may include such apparently mundane interest like celebration of wealth and achievement, as well as enhancement of one’s status in society. But the elaborate ritual invariably brings the Ozo candidate to a full religious conversion (13). In some localities, the initiation proper involves the physical burying of an initiate. A plank is placed over the shallow grave and earth is thrown on it. The death wail is started and the burial ceremonies are performed. (In some other parts of lgboland, the candidate goes into seclusion for four native weeks, that is twenty-eight days (14). When the uninitiated retire, he is exhumed and bathed and whitewashed with Nzu (white chalk). The origin of Ozo lies in the ancient past of the Igbo people. Traditionally, the initiation which was expensive and reserved for upright male members of the society could last several years until a candidate achieved the full title position. Commenting on the profound change that comes about with Ozo initiation, Arazu rightly observed:

• In the solitude imposed by the Ozo ritual initiation the candidate learns to pronounce ‘man’ with deliberation. He sees that his very nature is a statement from the Supreme Being: ‘Let goodness exist. The man who does not meditate, who does not contemplate, will never realize what man means … the Ozo chief attains the meaning of man. Man in his concrete existence is the nearest resemblance to divinity. The resemblance is neither moral nor physical. These concepts are not adequate in this matter. Man’s resemblance to God is religious. The Ozo rites of initiation take in every aspect of human activity, political, social, religious (15).

Beside initiation into title positions, severe misfortune like sickness, death and spirit possession are significant developments that motivate religious conversion. B. Ray citing Pierre Verger, relates the case of a Yoruba woman who was chosen by Ogun, a major deity of the Yoruba people of Nigeria to serve as a medium. The woman had lost all her children, one after the other, each dying a few days after birth. Some day while crossing the village square, she began to behave in an abnormal way, making uncontrollable gestures. She then staggered to the front of Ogun’s temple and fell like a corpse to the ground. The diviner later revealed that it was Ogun that had chosen her. She had been called to serve as his medium and “wife” to the entire community. Her preparation for the ritual initiation took about a month. As part of the festival in honour of Ogun, one of the mediums proclaimed the full conversion and status of the candidate Ogun had chosen as his medium:

• See the new iyaworisha (medium): it is Ogun that chose her. Is it not good? It is because I have seen the death on her that I took her. Now she is not going to die; no more danger for her; She is going to have a lot of children; boys and girls. I am going to tell her father and her husband what they must do now. Because she is not the same any more; the husband must not beat her any more. He must leave her in peace. If the husband has anything to say, he must tell it to me. It is Ogun now who is the father. Everybody must hear, men and women (16).

The husband and other relations of the woman expressed their gratitude to Ogun for taking the woman into his protection and pledged to abide with all the instructions of Ogun and never to interfere with norms and taboos relating to her in her changed status and role.

For Ajak the young Dinka of Southern Sudan, who had left his home and people in the village to seek greener pasture in one of the urban towns, it was Nhialic, the arch-divinity of his clan that caused him all sorts of misfortune, including throwing him into a dangerous river and seriously threatening to kill him. Ajak had gone to the town against his father’s wish. Neither did he bother to get reconciled to his father before the latter died, or to supervise his relations at home. After several sudden bouts of sickness and attacks of evil forces in the town, and unsuccessful attempts at a cure in the town, he was eventually taken to his home in the village. Ajak participated in ritual sacrifices for Nhialic and his ancestral spirits (17). Part of the healing ritual involved the repair of the broken family bonds and a vow by Ajak and his relations to uphold the ancestral norms of his clan. He recovered fully and remained devoted to the clan divinities and the ancestral spirits. No spirit possessed or troubled him again.

There are numerous examples of similar cases of genuine religious conversion within African indigenous religions in the religious history of various traditional African groups. Unfortunately, their significance as authentic religious experience is often ignored or down-played by researchers. Or such experiences are treated or reduced simply to socio-structural, and psychological development.

Conversion To Missionary Religions

The rate of conversion of millions of former adherents of African indigenous religions to one or other of the missionary religions now available in Africa is nothing short of a revolution. Mbiti captured the general scene of radical change sweeping through the Continent thus:

• Africa is caught up in a world revolution which is so dynamic that it has almost got out of human control … The man of Africa must get up and dance, for better or for worse, on the arena of world drama. His image of himself and of the universe is disrupted and must make room for the changing ‘universal and not simply ‘tribal’ man (18).

The phenomenal religious conversion that has taken place is certainly the direct result of a complex interplay of diverse impulses, and historical circumstances. There are political as well as socio-structural and psychological factors. But the religious encounter between the indigenous faith and the immigrant religions is of interest to us here. For Christianity, several unsuccessful attempts had previously been made (19). It was, in fact, not until the 18th and 19th centuries that the campaign that yielded the present significant break-through in religious change in the Continent begun.

Christian missionaries had benefited from the favourable climate created by European colonialism in Africa. Urbanisation, Western culture and civilisation, science and technology all played a major role. But the missionaries themselves were equipped with different viable evangelical methods and strategies. ‘They proclaimed the Good News of salvation through open-air preaching. They also offered various humanitarian services including rehabilitation of slaves and socially disadvantaged people. They set-up Christian villages where they settled many early converts (20). Medical care equally played an effective part in disposing many traditional adherents to accept the Christian message, so did pastoral visitation and vocational training for young men and women. By far, the promotion of formal school education proved to be the most viable and effective instrument of conversion evolved by Christian missionaries among many traditional African groups. Hundreds of thousands of young men and women who attended such schools, also received instruction in the faith, accepted baptism while in school and thereby broke the ancestral covenant with deities. It was not too long before the missionaries of the different mainstream Christian groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians began to harvest the fruit of their vigorous evangelical efforts (21).

In Liberia, as in the coastal region of Nigeria, the charismatic ministry of the renowned William Wade Hams and the fiery preacher Garrick Braide of Bakana respectively swept like tidal waves across towns and villages with the conversion of thousands of former adherents of African indigenous religions to the Anglican faith. In lgboland, Chief Samuel Idigo abandoned his traditional religious belief, and symbols of indigenous rituals and his staff of office, to embrace the Catholic. He had left his elevated position as the traditional ruler of his people to settle with numerous fellow converts in the new Christian village “Ugwu Ndi Uka’ established by the missionaries in Aguleri (22). Presently, lgboland, has well over 80% of its approximately twenty million people converted to Christianity. It has been cited as a typical African society in which the walls of the traditional religion have collapsed Jericho-wise. E.A. Ayandele title his review article, “The Collapse of ‘Pagandom’ in lgboland”. And he described the conversion of a vast majority of Igbo people to Christianity as nothing short of an epic” (23).

The current proliferation and attraction of Pentecostal and Evangelical groups in several parts of Africa is no doubt, one of the intriguing aspects of Christianity in the Continent today. The development is particularly manifest in urban centres. The groups excite, attract and draw their clientele mainly from among the youth and the middle-aged, both employed and unemployed. The founders/leaders are usually charismatic individuals, literate, and often loud and flamboyant in their life-style. They adopt very modem methods of preaching employing electronic gadgets and modern music. Their overall bearing in life is generally Western-oriented. Some of them employ all kinds of modem means of promotional advertisement to propagate their message. Vigorous evangelical bible study, deliverance from evil and demonic forces and counselling are some of their major schemes. ‘They propagate the so-called ‘prosperity gospel’, assuring their followers of quick success and material prosperity. The Pentecostal and Evangelical groups are probably the fastest growing churches in many parts of Africa. Many of the mainstream Christian churches including the Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists have been provoked and challenged by the fast rate of growth of the Pentecostals to devise schemes to counteract the drain in their numbers. While a considerable number of people who attend the Pentecostal churches appear to experience deep personal religious conversion and are committed to the ideals and mores of their new faith, it is must be pointed out that very many of the people who crowd into the rallies and fellowships of the new groups ostensibly go to search for quick miracles and wonders.

Conversion of millions of former adherents of African indigenous religions to Islam in various parts of the Continent has been no less spectacular. Berber and Arab commercialists and pastors brought Islam to sub-Saharan Africa several centuries ago. In Northern Nigeria for example, it arrived the ancient Kanem-Bornu empire about the 11th-century A.D. Through living together, trade, promotion of holy pilgrimage, Islamic law and learning some indigenous groups gradually began to embrace the Islamic religion. It was however, through jihad that Islam achieved a break-through in the religious conquest and conversion of millions of former traditional adherents to Islam especially in West Africa as well as in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Sheikh Usman dan Fodio inaugurated his jihad 1804 that won numerous indigenous Hausa groups to the side of Islam as well as purified the prevalent syncretism religious practice of the people. Similar developments occurred among the Wolof of Senegal led by Amadou Mbake Bamba, 1850-1927 (24).

Christianity and Islam are clearly the two dominant faiths in Africa today, while the law of diminishing returns have befallen the indigenous religions. A vast majority of former members of the traditional religions have abandoned the ancestral rituals and symbols to embrace Christianity, or Islam or some religious systems. The statistics of the current religious affiliation in an African country like Nigeria, provides an interesting example. Out of an estimated total population of about a hundred (100) million, some forty-eight per cent (48%) or fort-y-seven million people are professing Christians. Some forty-seven (47%) or forty-five million are Muslims, and a little over six million or five per cent (50/o) are traditional religionists (25).

Discontinuity And Continuity

The mass conversion of former adherents of indigenous religions in Africa to Islam and Christianity has evidently brought about the discontinuation of several aspects of the traditional religious culture of the people. ‘The homogenous traditional religious background in which the indigenous religions undergirded all aspects of life including the social, political and economic aspects, has more or less disappeared, making way to religious plurality which now prevails in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Huge cathedrals, churches, schools, mosques, and public buildings now rise on the former sites of sacred groves and shrines dedicated to powerful traditional deities. Certain brutal rituals like human sacrifice, traditional customs and taboos that discriminated against individuals and groups like women, outcastes, people suffering from various kinds of sickness and disease, the killing of twins among some African groups have been eradicated (26). In lgboland for instance, most traditional communities had, prior to the advent of Christian missionaries reserved dreaded places, Ajo Ofia, ‘bad forests’ as such places were called, where people dumped away tabooed persons and those who had seriously infringed the approved norms of behaviour to die miserable death. Such individuals like leprosy patients, sorcerers, witches, notorious persons were abhorred by the physically living human beings, ancestors and the gods. Today most of those dreaded places and forests have been cleared. They are now the location of many churches, schools and public institutions. Some important traditional institutions, including priesthood of some prominent deities, initiations and festivals have been abandoned since the people to uphold and continue them have left the indigenous religions of their people to embrace one or the other of the missionary religions.

Some analysts have easily concluded, based on these visible features of the prevailing religious situation in the Continent, that the demise of the traditional religions is a “fait accompli” (27). But statistics do not tell the full story. Religious conversion is such a complex and fluid matter. Particularly in Africa, with the tremendous resilience and adaptability of the indigenous religions, the persistence of vital beliefs among many converts to Christianity or Islam, it is extremely difficult to be categorical about the state of religious conversion of the majority of people. The astonishing stories of phenomenal achievements of the missionary religions and of heroic lives of faith by numerous converts to Christianity or Islam ought to be taken together with the constant complaints against shallowness of faith, nominal membership, syncretic practices among a large segment of the population of new converts. The traditional world-view, including a strong belief in the dynamic presence and activities of spirit beings and cosmic forces in people’s lives, belief in re-incarnation persist among most Africans.

The scenario depicted by Bishop (now Archbishop) Albert K- Obiefuna about Igbo converts to Catholicism could easily be said of most other sub-Saharan African groups. In a fifty-one paged pastoral letter titled Idolatry In A Century-old Faith published in 1985 to mark the first centenary celebration of the Catholic Church in Eastern Nigeria, the Bishop called attention to the two sides of the picture.

Christianity has made an impact on our people. There is no gainsaying it. Thousands come to our churches. Many also avail themselves of the Sacraments. But times without number the remark reaches us that our Christians are worshipping ‘idols”, false gods. They swear on idols. They erect shrines in their homes, in their compounds. They hide fetishes in their shades in the market places and in their workshops. Catechists, Seminarians on apostolic work in the towns and villages are stunned at the degree of idol worship and superstitious practices that still exist among a people that are mostly baptised Catholics.

At every retreat, Catholics bring out from their homes fetishes and charms of all kinds. Idol worship, superstitious practices, fear of witchcraft, charms, and all sorts of vain observances are realities among our Catholics. We cannot simply deny they obtain (28)

The indigenous religions remain very much the living faith of many rural dwellers in Africa. Both in urban and rural areas the religions continue to adapt to the changing circumstances of life of the people. Modem houses built with cement and zinc now feature as shrines of deities. People use such contemporary items like rice, mineral drinks, pieces of cloth as materials for ritual sacrifice. Traditional priests, diviners, mediums and shrine attendants dress in decent outfit for traditional religious cult of deities in present-day African societies. In another development, the beliefs and rituals of several traditional African deities like the Yoruba Orisha continue to be maintained by many adherents and practitioners of the Voodoo, Santeria and Cumina cults in the Caribbean Islands, Cuba, and parts of the United States of America (29). These forms of religious practice by Africans in the diaspora combine indigenous African religious stuff with elements from Christianity. Furthermore, the effort at modernisation of the traditional religions themselves is manifestly evident in such contemporary religious systems as Godianism of Chief G.O.K Onyioha in lgboland, the Ogboni Fraternity and Eruosa National Church among the Yoruba and Edo peoples of Nigeria respectively. The African Independent and Aladura churches, including the Kimbangu Church of Congo, and the Cherubim and Seraphim groups, have also greatly contributed to keeping alive certain vital aspects of the indigenous religious culture of the people such as the belief in the dynamic presence and influence of ancestral and other spirit beings in people’s lives, divination, belief in magic and the practice of traditional rituals.

Conclusion

Both in the traditional homogenous religious background as well as in contemporary plural society, religion has always been a major determinant of life of African people. The fluid and complex nature of religious conversion is clearly a reflection of the characteristic dynamic nature of religion itself among the groups. Prior to the encounter with Islam and Christianity, the traditional religions of Africa pervaded and permeated all vital life-interests of people, investing the social, economic and political facets of life with meaning and symbolic significance. Religious change had proceeded not in any dramatic and radical way, but rather in a slow-rate manner. The religious and spiritual fervour of people flowed and ebbed in response to changing circumstances of life. Significant historical situations brought about novel religious ideas, values, beliefs, symbols, taboos and rituals. The cosmology of the different groups was particularly accommodating, as the size of the pantheon of the different groups enlarged or diminished in response to varying stimuli. Individuals and groups had experience of genuine religious conversion. Their cumulative spiritual heritage and religious insight were preserved and handed on from one generation to the next through such oral media as speech-forms, including myths, legends, stories, proverbs, and names, art-forms including sculptures, carvings, and festivals, and important institutions like shrines, masquerades, kingship institution and so on.

The advent and spread of Islam and Christianity precipitated a different kind of religious situation in contemporary Africa. A vast majority of the population have abandoned the religions of their ancestors to convert to one or other of the missionary faiths now available in the Continent. In spite of the many problems and difficulties confronting the converts, it is unarguable that both Islam and Christianity have sunk deep roots in Africa. ‘They have made irreversible impact on the Continent’s religious and spiritual landscape. The faith of the vast majority of the population now lies mainly with Islam and Christianity. The religious hunger for the sacred which has evolved from the traditional religious background to the contemporary plural society still persists. This is the central value that must not be wasted, but ought to be vigorously preserved and sustained by all well-meaning religious people in Africa.

_______________________

REFERENCES:

1. Booth (jr), J.S. “An Approach to African Religion’ in J.S. Booth (jr), African Religions, A Symposium (New York, NOK Publishers, 1977), pp. 1 -1 1; Also, lkenga-Metuh, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions (Onitsha; Imico Publishers, 1987), pp. 13-23.

2. Mbiti, J. S. African Religions and Philosophy (London; Heinemann, 1990 2nd ed., p. 3

3. Nock A. D. ” Conversion”, Quoted in, Christianity In Tropical Africa, by C. C. Baeta (ed.), Oxford, 1968, Oxford University Press, p.3

4. Chambers Twenty Century Dictionary, 1972 (ed.), p. 284.

5. Ejizu, C.I. “Religion and Social Change, The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria”, Neue Zeitschrift Fur Missionswissenschaft, ( Vol. 45, No. 2, 1989), p. 1 10.

6. Quoted in Ikenga-Metuh, E., The Gods in Retreat, Continuity and Change in African Religions, (Enugu; F.D.P. 1986), p. xiii.

7. Ibid

8. Idowu, E.B., African Traditional Religion, A Definition (London; S.C.M Press, 1980 ed.), pp. 103ff.

9. Mbiti, J.S., Op. Cit. p. 223.

10. Ray, B., African Religions, Symbo4 Ritual and Community (New Jersey; Prentice-Hall, 1976), p. 11.

11. Ranger, T.O. and Kimambo, I.N. (ed.) The Historical Studies of African Religion (Berkeley; Univ. of California Press, 1972).

12. Alutu, J.O., Nnewi History (Enugu; F.D.P. 1985 ed.), pp. 4-5.

13. Alutu, J.O., Op. Cit. pp. 272-293.

14. Arazu, R. “A cultural Model for Christian Prayer” in A Shorter, African Christian Spirituality (London; Chapman, 1978), p. 115

15. Ibid

16. Ray, B. Op. Cit. p. 68

17. Ray, B. Op. Cit. pp. 65-68

18. Mbiti, J.S., Op. Cit. p. 216

19. For detailed information on early Christian religious history of parts of Africa, Confer such works like; O.U. Kalu, The History of Christianity in West Africa (London, Longman, 1980); J.F.A. Ajayi, Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891, (London; Longmans, 1965). E.A. Ayandele, The Missionary Impact on Modem Nigeria, 1842-1914, London; Longmans, 1966).

20. Nwosu, V.A. The Catholic Church in Onitsha, People, Places, and Events (Onitsha; EPL, 1985), pp. 16-41.

21. G.O.M Tasie, “Christian Awakening in West Africa, 1914-18, A Study in the Significance of Native Agency”, in Kalu, O.U. Op. Cit. pp. 293-306.

22. Nwosu, V.A., Op. Cit. pp. 16-41

23. Ayandele, E.A. “The Collapse of Pagandom in Igboland” in Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria, (Vol. Il, No. 1, Dec. 1973), pp. 126-7.

24. Booth (jr), J.S., “Islam In Africa” in J.S. Booth Gr.), Op. Cit. pp. 297-343.

25. Barrette, D.B.(ed.), World Christian Encyclopaedia (Nairobi; O.U. P), p. 529.

26. Ejizu, C.I. “Continuity and Discontinuity in African Traditional Religion, The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria’, Cahier Des Religions Africaines, (Vol. 8, No. 36, 1984), pp. 197-214.

27. Ejizu, C.I., Op. Cit. p. 198.

28. Obiefuna, AK., Idolatry In A Century-Old Faith (Enugu; Cecta Ltd., 1985), p. 11

29. Holloway, J.E. (ed.), Africanisms in American Culture, (Bloomington; I.U.P. 1990).

Source

An African Philosophy of History in the Oral Tradition 

By E. J. Alagoa 

University of Port Harcourt 

Introduction

A few decades ago, African historians were required to answer questions concerning the viability of their enterprise. Was there a history to tell? Was it possible to construct a credible history out of the oral tradition? By now these questions should lie behind us. Through the work of Vansina and his students from the University of Wisconsin, among others, we know that the oral tradition is a viable source and a history in its own right; and we recognize the custodians of the traditions as both informants and historians. In this discussion we raise an additional question: Is there a philosophy of history in the African oral tradition?

To begin with, what do African philosophers say about an African philosophy? Mudimbe believes there is an “implicit philosophy” in what he terms, “the primordial African discourse in its variety and multiplicity,” that is, the oral tradition. Anthony Appiah concedes that a “folk philosophy” exists in Africa, although he believes that oral tradition is not hospitable to philosophy.

We note that Tempels formulated a Bantu philosophy, from the “implicit,” “folk,” philosophy of the oral tradition of the Bantu. Similarly, Alexis Kagame formulated a philosophy of being from the Bantu languages of Rwanda. On the other hand, we note the case of the Dogon sage, Ogotemeli, as an instance of an ‘explicit” philosophy in the oral tradition. These examples provide encouragement for an inquiry into the possibilities of an African philosophy of history in the oral tradition. We conduct our search principally among the communities of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. There is evidence of ideas about history in institutions for the veneration of ancestors and in art. Such ideas are, admittedly, only “implicit,” to be interpreted with difficulty before their historiographical meaning can be made “explicit.” On the other hand, the proverb text approximates to an “explicit” commentary on the history represented by the African oral tradition.

The proverb text, however, is not without problems, since it is best understood in specified contexts and its meaning is not always unambiguous. The proverb text may, therefore, be characterised as a contested text. In our view of philosophy as the raising of questions and ideas for consideration, the problems associated with the use of the proverb do not make the texts invalid, since they stimulate thought, comments, and arguments on the oral tradition. Therefore, proverbs as contested texts make them appropriate material for the discussion of an African philosophy of history.

At this point, we present for discussion, the commentaries of proverb texts, raising issues in four areas:

• Questions on the nature of history, through the question, who is qualified to tell the oral tradition?

• Discussion of truth, and how we may determine it in the oral tradition.

• Statements on the nature of time: present, past, future, and eternity.

• Ideas on the value of history.

•  

The nature of history

On the question, who is qualified to inform on the past, Niger Delta proverbs point to age as the most important criterion. We cite two Nembe and three Ikwerre proverbs.

• i. More days / More wisdom (Nembe)

• ii. What an old man sees seated / A youth does not see standing (Ikwerre)

• iii. If a child lifts up his father / The wrapper will cover his eyes (Ikwerre)

• iv. A god whose chief priest is a child / Can easily get out of hand (Ikwerre)

• v. However big the male lizard is / The wall-gecko drinks the wine as the senior (Ikwerre)

The first text explicitly equates wisdom with age. The outcome is to equate history with experience, and therefore, to assign knowledge of it to those persons who had the greatest opportunity to acquire experience.

We note that age provides opportunity, and not complete assurance of wisdom or knowledge. One proverb text from the Itsekiri clarifies this:

• vi. The spirits do not kill an old man for not knowing the history of his time.

Thus, some elders had not profited from the opportunities of age to acquire wisdom or knowledge. Yet text (iii.) warns youth against challenging even ignorant elders.

Truth

African communities place great store by the reliability of their accounts of the past and the present. The small Birom community of the Plateau region of Central Nigeria stated this explicitly in five proverbs:

• vii. Truth never finishes.

• viii. Truth never rots.

• ix. Truth never rusts.

• x. Truth is worth more than money.

• xi. Lies have their end – But truth lives forever.

African communities were also all too aware of the existence of error and of deliberate falsehood. The Kuteb of Central Nigeria warned against error, even in the best qualified authorities, in the following proverb:

• xii. Even a four-legged horse stumbles and falls.

Other proverb texts caution against judgements based on appearance. The Ikwerre of the Niger Delta did so in two proverbs:

• xiii. The keen ear / Is not as big as an umbrella.

• xiv. A large eye / Does not mean keen vision.

How then do we recognise truth? First, direct eye-witness testimony is to be preferred to others:

• xv. He who sees does not err (Kikuyu).

• xvi. If an apopokiri (fish)from the bottom of the river says that the crocodile is sick / It will not be doubted (Ashanti).

Second, an eye-witness account corroborated by a second witness is to be preferred to an account given by a single witness:

• xvii. I have seen the one who stole the hen / I don’t tell because I am alone (Sena).

• xviii. An animal does not fall / Without a second shot (Nembe).

Third, the test of probability based on “the nature of things,” that is, on common sense and reason:

• xix. The oldest son does not know his father / Yet the youngest one claims to have carried seven bags for him (Ikwerre).

• xx. “I have killed an elephant,” could be true / “I have carried it to the road” must be false (Ikwerre).

Time

The oral tradition recognised the passage of time through its visible results and impact on things, the documents of historians:

• xxi. The year a basket is made / Is not the year it wears out(Ikwerre).

The oral tradition also understood that accounts did not spring out of nothing, but were recalled through their relevance to present circumstances; approximating to the view that “all history is contemporary history:”

• xxii. A storyteller / Does not tell of a different season / tide (Nembe).

Is the past then created out of the present? Or does it have a grounding of its own? One text says the past came before the present, as the ground before the trees:

• xxiii. The earth came into being / Before the trees (Nembe).

The future is defined as a time to be planned for in expectation:

• xxiv. A man who wants a ram slaughtered at his graveside / Should keep a ewe to produce the ram while he is alive (Ikwerre).

Indeed, the future remains unknown and beyond knowledge:

• xxv. Even a bird with a long neck cannot see the future (Kanuri).

One text refers to eternity as even more inscrutable than the future:

• xxvi. God will outlive eternity (Nupe).

Why history?

First, what are the consequences of ignorance or neglect of history?

• xxvii. A stranger in town / Walks over hallowed graves (Nembe).

• xxviii. One ignorant of his origin / Is nondo (nonhuman) (Nembe).

• xxix. The fly who has no adviser / Will follow the corpse into the grave (Ikwerre).

The cost of ignorance then, is high, from improper behaviour, to loss of humanity, to death. What, then are the benefits of knowledge?

• xxx. The son of the soil / Has the python’s keen eyes (Ikwerre).

The historian, the man grounded in knowledge of community history is characterised as “the son of the soil.” The Ikwerre term, diali, means son of Ali, the Earth, venerated as a dominant goddess. Such a person belongs, is an insider in every sense. As a consequence, he or she sees clearly as the African python is though to see. In effect, he or she operates efficiently in society with a secure identity. In contrast, the person without knowledge of community traditions is a “stranger in town,” without proper identity and open to being treated as being less than human.

Conclusion

This brief discourse should establish the possibility of an African philosophy of history in the oral tradition. Fuller enquiry would require interrogation of community historians as well as the contributions of modern African philosophers who can obtain answers from questioning other sources in the “primordial African discourse in its variety and multiplicity.”

Dr. Alagoa is one of Nigeria’s pioneer scholars of oral historiography and historical writing.  

Source

The Moral Degradation of White Privilege

August 06, 2003

By Rootsie

You get all the relationships wrong.

With the natural world: its forces, its cycles, its creatures.

With other people, places, and things.

With your own self.

Since you feel you are entitled to all good things you can imagine, you are constantly functioning with lesser or greater levels of disappointment. You do not treasure what you have, but always crave more.

Since you are probably aware of the comparative deprivation of many, even if you make no conscious connection between their situation and yours, the natural injustice does affect you. You can make many choices here, from engaging in ‘charity’, to indulging hedonistically in things that stimulate your pleasure centers so you don’t have to think. Diversions and distractions keep you from focusing on the truth of our situation.

In terms of natural law, ignorance is not an excuse. Just because you exist in the condition of privilege does not mean you exist outside of natural laws. Causes have effects, whether you are aware of them or not.

You may engage in rationalizations or justifications which all boil down to this: you are privileged, we are, because we deserve it, while others do not. Whether you bring forth religious justifications, nationalistic ones, historical ones that paint your people in a positive light as opposed to ‘them’, this engagement with illusion contaminates any efforts you may make to develop yourself, spiritually or otherwise.

In the realms of love and romance, your fantasy probably swirls around some variation of ‘happily ever after’, since this is what your sense of entitlement leads you to expect. If difficulties arise, you are unwilling to engage them. In fact, all efforts requiring time and patience are equally elusive: most often you want what you want and you want it now. This is the message being constantly beamed at you by the various media. All you desire is available to you. Now.

You are tied to matter, and this leaves you ignorant of the subtle treasures of heart and soul that lie beyond the realms of matter. Your things become idols. You covet them more and love them more than the truth. You comfort and console yourself with them, for the state of misery you are in is real, and unbearable otherwise.

You expect to be welcomed with open arms wherever you go, and you react with surprise and anger when this is not so. You believe that if you just say something, that makes it true. ‘I am not a racist.’ ‘I am black on the inside, where it counts.’ ‘Race does not matter.’ ‘I have many black friends, so I know what it means to be black.’

You may believe that racial inequality is a thing of the past, and that the evils whites committed in the past have nothing to do with you now, or you may cite your own personal ancestry, and point out that your people had nothing to do with the past 500 years of slavery and oppression.

But injustice for many is injustice for all: it cuts both ways. You did not choose to be white and to live in the West. You do not want this privilege, and yet it is yours. You are aware that in the present equation, pleasures for you mean pain for others. Well, no matter how you feel about it, until you move to do something about it, real happiness will elude you. It doesn’t matter if this seems fair to you; this is simply how it is.

Further, it is impossible for you to be truly happy living with excess while others try to live without enough. You have to give it back. And not in the form of pity or mercy or charity, which are evil things as long as vast systems persist which maintain inequality. Charity is simply another one of those diversions that makes you feel good for a second but does nothing to address the disease in the long-run.

The way to give it back is not to run screaming away from the land of plenty and play poor in ‘the third world’ either. Another illusion, and simply dishonest.

The only thing to do is to devote your excess beyond what you need to live to activities which will dismantle this system of privilege. It is unnatural for people to work against their own interests, but white privilege is not in anybody’s interest. If the purpose of life were to accumulate material possessions in such excess that others literally die so that you may possess them, that would be one thing. But no one really thinks that is our purpose here.

Our prevailing religion entreats us to ‘love another.’ It does not teach that we should love some more and others less. There is a profound personal price to be paid for hypocrisy. And thus agrees that same religion.

To benefit, willingly or not, from an immoral system of privilege taints everything in your life with immorality. This is monstrous, but it is true.

This is a society of addiction, of violence, of abuse, of grotesque consumption. It maims and mangles everyone in it. Appearance becomes reality, because reality is unbearable for most.

Source

Black Revolutionaries

By Yasus Afari

July 12, 2010 – ourafrikanheritage.com

Power-fool nations and the African crucifixion

The history of human civilization provides impressive and overwhelming evidence that the essence and glory of the African People inspires, influenced and illuminated the ancient world centuries before other nations. Interestingly, this occurred while many of the now/contemporary, individualized and power-fool nations were groping in the darkness of their ignorance and underdevelopment. Indeed, the centuries of Europe benefited extensively from African civilization when they were awakened from their prolonged slumber, about six centuries ago. It is now an established fact that Greece, Spain, ancient Rome and others were guides and enlightened by the wisdom and glory of African civilization, which they gradually filtered and introduced into Europe.

As alluded to in the book “Overstanding RASTAFARI – Jamaica’s Gift to the World”, Europe’s notorious gang-rape, plunder and ultimate enslavement and colonization of Africa was largely motivated by ignorance, envy and greed along with their moral, social economic deficiency and insufficiency, which was coupled with the intoxicating effect and grandeur of Africa, which blinded their (Europe) vision and numbed their collective conscience. Hence, the people of Africa were crucified on the international altar of slavery and colonialism and buried into the sepulcher of death and captivity by the power-fool nations, peoples and drunkards of the international community.

Ironically, these very nations now profile and parade within the international community as the paragons of virtue and civilizing forces of the modern world. However, consistent with the cyclic nature of the human experience, nations rise and nations fall, civilizations rise and civilizations fall, in the supreme quest of attaining and maintaining the illusive and delicate balance of sustainable development. In harmony with this notion, Mama Africa is gradually re-emerging from the colonial slaughter to reclaim Her rightful place of dignity among the family of nations.

The Black Resurrection and The Black Revolutionaries

To forcefully and brutally extract a people from their communities and natural habitat is one of the most savage and inhuman acts. Then, to subject that people to the slaughter, torment and inhumanity of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism is diabolic beyond normal human comprehension. The African people and nations who are the victims of these heinous acts of aggression have nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, to have survived this terrible holocaust is a remarkable feat and monumental accomplishment of which Africa must be justly proud. Indeed, the perpetrators of this awful crime against humanity must be made to feel ashamed of themselves and must be persuades to compensate Africa and her people, by acceptable means and methods of reparations and repatriations.

From the very beginning of the European gang-style-rape and wholesale slaughter of the African family, the people of Africa fiercely resisted this European onslaught and butchery. This courageous resistance, which actually escalated into full-scale guerilla warfare, took place both on the continent of Mama Africa and in the bowels and dungeons of the African Diaspora. In fact, this relentless resistance to the European domination and down-pression was largely responsible for the incremental dismantling of the institutions of slavery and colonialism, which resulted in the abolition movement as well as the freedom and independence movements in Africa and the Black Diaspora.

In this connection, the struggle continues against the forces of neo-colonialism and Euro-American imperialism and exploitation and into this very era and the current year of the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery. Therefore, as we enter the third century, since the abolition of slavery, let it be known and recognized that century is the “third day”/“third century” of the Black Resurrection.

With this in mind, this column, entitled “The Black Revolutionaries”, will seek to recognize the celebrated the lives and works of those Black Revolutionary Warriors and Freedom Fighters who have resisted the evils of colonialism and slavery. In so doing, we hope to further energize, inspire, motivate and mobilize The Black Revolutionary Forces, so as to reverse the underdevelopment of African, by re-constructing the ancient memories of the African future.

Consistent with this notion, let us endeavor to re-connect, heal and restore the broken memories and fragments of our history and heritage, into an immortal continuum that will result in the total liberation and freedom of African and victory of good over evil. So let it be. Selah.

Freedom

This is the war cry for all prisoners (of conscience) and liberators universally!
Freedom must be – our only prison!

Free the prisoners!
‘Cause prisoners cyaan prison prisoners
Thieves and murderers cannot condemn thieves and murders!

Cho: Wi haffe mek it come
Wi must mek it/e come
Wi haffe bring wi own freedom come

Tear the shackles from your mind
And the chains from your hands
And the chains from your feet
Free-up your body and your mind
The prisoners are in the streets
And the streets are in the prisons
You are a product of your environment
Soh the crooks are the architects of the establishment
Soh listen to me reasoning and start an argument

Cho. …………

Soh yu get up every day committing crimes
Putting the prisons in your mind
If you take the prisoners out of the prison
It will be no more a prison
There will be no need for a prison
So empty the prisons – NOW!

Cho. ………..

Now ask yourself
Who am I?
Where am I from?
Where am I going?
Why am I here?
What’s my purpose in life?
A weh mi deh?
A weh mi name?
A weh mi a goh?
Now when you find the answers to those questions
Freedom will be your only prison!

Cho. Wi haffe mek it come
Wi must mek it/e come
Wi haffe bring wi own freedom come
Now!!!

Source: ourafrikanheritage.com

I’m a Racist: Part II

by Ed Kinane / July 6th, 2010

If you want to know why BP should be allowed no role in the response to its disaster, watch the video embedded below. 

[July 11, 2010]

Brilliantly explaining the causes of the horrific 2005 explosion in BP’s Texas City refinery, the first two thirds of this video presents evidence supporting the conclusion that lethal so-called accidents don’t indicate that BP managers are deviating from BP’s operating strategy, but that they are loyally carrying it out. As shown in Congressman Henry Waxman’s letter to BP CEO Hayward, and the Waxman-Stupak hearings (links to both here), BP maximizes profits by systematically violating human and environmental safety. The video deteriorates in the last third and ends with a sad attempt to praise BP as having changed.  In 2009, one year after it was produced, BP got the largest fines of any company ever for not making good on ending safety violations at Texas City, and for adding hundreds of new ones. no role in the response to its disaster, watch the video embedded below. 

Source

U.S. paid Iranian nuclear scientist $5 million for aid to CIA, officials say

By Greg Miller and Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 15, 2010; 10:50 AM

The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland Wednesday was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. officials said.

Shahram Amiri is not obligated to return the money but might be unable to access it after breaking off what U.S. officials described as significant cooperation with the CIA and abruptly returning to Iran. Officials said he might have left out of concern that the Tehran government would harm his family.

(Photos: The most infamous spies through history)

“Anything he got is now beyond his reach, thanks to the financial sanctions on Iran,” a U.S. official said. “He’s gone, but his money’s not. We have his information, and the Iranians have him.”

Amiri arrived in Tehran early Thursday to a hero’s welcome, including personal greetings from several senior government officials. His 7-year-old son broke down in tears as Amiri held him for the first time since his mysterious disappearance in Saudi Arabia 14 months ago.

(Photos: Who is Shahram Amiri?)

In brief remarks to reporters at Imam Khomeni International Airport, Amiri said, “I am so happy to be back in the Islamic republic,” and he repeated his claims of having been abducted by U.S. agents. He said CIA agents had tried to pressure him into helping them with their propaganda against his homeland and offered him $50 million to remain in the United States.

Amiri, who flashed victory signs as he stepped into the airport, also said that he knew little of Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site. “I’m a simple researcher. A normal person would know more about Natanz than me.”

He was greeted by Hassan Qashqavi, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official, as well as a deputy interior minister and a deputy science minister.

Amiri’s request this week to be sent home stunned U.S. officials, who said he had been working with the CIA for more than a year.

Whether the agency received an adequate return on its investment in Amiri is difficult to assess. The size of the payment might offer some measure of the value of the information he shared. But it could also reflect a level of eagerness within the U.S. intelligence community for meaningful information on Iran.

The U.S. official said the payments reflected the value of the information gleaned. “The support is keyed to what the person’s done, including how their material has checked out over time,” said the official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the case. “You don’t give something for nothing.”

The transfer of millions of dollars into Amiri-controlled accounts also seems to bolster the U.S. government’s assertions that Amiri was neither abducted nor brought to the United States against his will. Given the amount of money he was provided, a second U.S. official said, “I’m sure he could have been very happy here for a long time.”

The payments are part of a clandestine CIA program referred to as the “brain drain.” Its aim is to use incentives to induce scientists and other officials with information on Iran’s nuclear program to defect.

The Iranian government maintains that its nuclear research is strictly for peaceful purposes. But the United States and other nations contend that Iran is secretly pursuing a nuclear bomb. Acquiring intelligence on the country’s nuclear capabilities and intentions is among the highest priorities for U.S. spy agencies.

Amiri, 32, is known to have worked at Iran’s Malek-e-Ashtar Industrial University, which U.S. intelligence agencies think is linked to the nation’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful entity accused of activities ranging from weapons research to supporting terrorist groups.

The scientist is not believed to have had direct access to Iran’s most sensitive nuclear sites or leaders involved in decisions on whether to pursue a bomb. Still, officials said Amiri was valuable in confirming information from other sources and providing details on multiple nuclear facilities.

Iran has already begun to take advantage of the Amiri case, with state television echoing his claims that he was abducted and describing his return as a national victory.

The CIA has authority to bring as many as 100 people into the United States each year under a provision of the 1949 Central Intelligence Agency Act that enables the agency to bypass ordinary immigration requirements.

Promises of resettlement and reward money are two of the primary inducements used by the CIA to recruit informants inside “hard target” countries, including North Korea and Iran.

The money that went to Amiri was apparently placed in accounts or investment mechanisms that would sustain him over a lifetime in the United States. “You basically put together a long-term benefits package,” one of the U.S. officials said.

Although Amiri might no longer be able to access the accounts, it was not clear whether the CIA would be able to reclaim the funds. The U.S. officials declined to disclose where the funds had been deposited.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley would not disclose Amiri’s immigration status while he was in the United States or the reason he had been in the country. “He was here of his own volition and left of his own volition,” Crowley said. “If he wants to talk about this, he can.”

The CIA’s payments to Amiri add to what has become one of the more bizarre recent episodes in espionage. Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia last summer and then resurfaced in a series of contradictory Internet videos this spring.

In some, he claimed to have been abducted, drugged and subjected to CIA torture to get him to talk. In another recording, apparently produced with help from the CIA, Amiri insisted that he had come to the United States of his own accord and said he was living in Tucson while pursuing a PhD.

One of the U.S. officials said Amiri’s family was a main factor in his decision to return. “He just wanted to see his family and, unfortunately, he chose a dumb way to do it,” the official said, “lying about what happened to him here to try to build up his credibility back home.”

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071501395_pf.html